LG BD570 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

LG BD570 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

Customer Reviews
tried two, both junk, move on to better brand!, February 5, 2011
By D. Brown (New England)
This is the second one from Amazon, both units skip and stutter when warmed up, it is not the type of dvd disc, I tried lots, move on to another model or brand

Great blu ray player. Love it., February 5, 2011
By Vincent Laratta (Imperial, Missouri)
I was torn between the Samsung bd-c6500 and this LG player. I chose the samsung because I have had pretty good success in the past with Samsung ---terrible mistake. The samsung would not stay connected to my network---and I had just bought a brand new Netgear router-their latest model. I had the samsung for 1 day and was so frustrated, I immediately boxed it up and sent it back to Amazon and ordered the LG570. I did have to download the updated software to get it to stay connected to the network, but after that staying connected has been automatic. Netflix movies load in less than 20 seconds--super fast. Pandora operates fantastic. Blu ray movies have great color and sound. I did have one problem, however,--the first time I turned the LG off it made a weird sound and would not turn back on for nothing. I googled this to try and find a solution and someone said LG suggested unplugging the power and holding down the power button for 30 seconds for a hard reset. This worked!!!!! I have since turned the player on and off 50 times and the problem has not reoccurred, hopefully, it was a one time thing. After the hard reset, I thought I would have to download the software upgrade and get everything working again, but that was not the case. I did the hard reset, and everything has worked 100 percent ever since. We love this player and ease of use and user friendly operation. Blu ray dvd's load faster than my other 2 samsung upconversion 1080 units. After all the frustration with the samsung and their customer service, I am now a LG buyer. I know this is a review for LG, but at the same time I feel I need to let others know about the lousy customer service and blu ray samsung has---just awful customer service. No desire to help me, desire to blame it on the router. Before buying the samsung, google the gateway ping problems and see for yourself.

Great gear for a Good price, February 4, 2011
By Patrick Boyne "Skitch" (Tulsa,Ok)
I like this product, it had features that I didn't need but like the dashboard of this product better than the others I have (Tivo, ROKU). Movies are really easy to select and the picture quality is great.

Does What It is Supposed To Do and Does It Well, February 4, 2011
By Love My Toys
This is actually my third LG Blu-Ray player (BD390 and two BD570s). You really get a lot for your money. With a 7.1 setup in two rooms and a 5.1 setup in the third I get an amazing media experience with each blu-ray disk that I watch. I especially like its access to internet content which I cannot get directly from my TVs. Setup was extrememly easy with my Cisco E3000 router and I can now watch Netflix anywhere in the house. I really have nothing negative to say about it.

Love the wireless networking, February 4, 2011
By Alfred E. Garren (south Florida)
Loads much faster than older bluray player. The wireless networking feature works great, I can play my music collection stored on my desktop through the player without touching a CD.

Purchased for Netflix Streaming, February 3, 2011
By Curt T. Stettler "boarat" (Livermore, CA United States)
This is my first Blu-Ray player, so take this review with that in mind. I was a little hesitant buying this item, due to some negative set up reviews. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to set this up to my home network. For a non-xpert computer guy (thats putting it lightly!), it was a piece of cake, and worked the first time. I followed the directions on the manual, as opposed to the quick set up card, as it was much more detailed. Also, I did not use the wireless set-up since the player is close to my router, so I used a network cable instead.

The picture is crystal clear, the Netflix streaming is flawless! And I immediately stopped my DVD service, as I can watch unlimited movies for $7.99/month. As of the fisrt two months of owning this player, I've no reservations whatsoever about recommending this unit.

It does what it says, February 3, 2011
By A Customer
Easy set up. It did take a couple of times for me to upgrade the software. I love the stream from Netflix. I use the HDMI hook up and it helps with better clarity. Lets face it, DVD is better clarity, but the stream is very doable and I don't have to plug in my laptop anymore! . Not the fault of the player. They have acu weather that you can plug in different zip codes to check the weather. I haven't had a chance to check Pandora out yet, but plan to this weekend. Other stream options I have not had the opportunity to check out.

All in all. A great player.

LG Review BD570, February 2, 2011
By Cyn
Love the BD570. It was a very good price and goes well with my LG TV. I understand the complaints about the loading speed, but that's not something I really care about.

Very Good Network Blu-ray Player, February 2, 2011
By Mayank Parekh
Excellent network blu-ray player. I have purchased multiple expensive blu ray players (Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic) in hopes that they would support NTFS formatted hard drives, but this seems to be the only one that supports an NTFS formatted hard drive.

exactly what we were looking for, February 2, 2011
By D. Fokema (Wisconsin)
We bought this for our newborn sons room so we could watch TV, movies, or listen to music in his room when we feed him, etc. It works great and we love that it has Netflix and Pandora built in. I love everything about this player. It turns on and off quickly and the menus are easy to navigate. I plan to buy another one of these players soon for a different room.

Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player

Sony BDP-S570 3D Blu-ray Disc Player

Customer Reviews
disappointing failure by Sony, February 7, 2011
By K. Allen (Plano, TX USA)
For all the wonderful features it claims to have, it does a lousy job of playing various video media types (not enough codecs embedded in its OS) and refuses to play homemade Blu-ray discs. Spent less money buying a LG that doesn't have these problems.

BDP, February 6, 2011
By Fredctx
So far this product has performed very well. It is a far cry from Sony's original 300 series. The wi fi works flawlessly.

CR recommeds this DVD player, February 6, 2011
By Bobb21060
Happy with this DVD player purchase.I found out after I purchased this DVD player that It is recommended by CR. I have played a few movies and happy with the preformance so far. I have not tried the 3D yet. The wireless was a snap to setup and the preset websites were easy to access too. I thought it was a good purchase so far.

Good deal, February 5, 2011
By Teresa M. Benson (Waterloo, IA United States)
Good DVD player. We were happy with the pricing because all the local ones were higher. The only issue that I've had with it was that if you have any upper case letters in your wifi router password, it doesn't have a way to accomodate that. I contacted Sony support and they couldn't give me any help. I ended up changing my password just so I can use the DVD player with Netflix. Other than that, we've been very happy with it.

Netflix Streaming Requires a Wireless-N router, February 5, 2011
By Mark A. Wilson
In summary, if you are buying this player to stream Netflix (or other internet content) over your wireless network it will REQUIRE a wireless-N router.

I have been using an old Samsung BDP-1590 player for the last two years to stream Netflix using my LinkSys WRT56G router (wireless-G) and have had no problems. The Samsung can stream movies just fine over the wireless-G (although the picture quality is disappointing). However, when I hooked up the new Sony S570 to the G-router it was unwatchable. During a 90 minute movie, it had to pause to cache the stream upwards of 20 times (I stopped counting and watching at 20).

I did purchase a new ASUS N-Router at the same time I bought the Sony S570...in part because I had read other reviews about the poor streaming quality of the Sony. So after the terrible experience on the G-router, I hooked up the N-router and tried watching the same 90 minute movie. Not a single pause, great picture quality, exactly what I was looking for.

Awesome!, February 4, 2011
By Mojorusty
I have been hesitating on getting a Blu-Ray player, mostly because of all the bad things I have heard about them. I just got this one and hooked it up last night, and love it so far. Very easy to install, and the picture and sound is incredible. Not sure what everyone is talking about with the slow start up screen, mine started just as fast, if not faster than my DVD player. It played every DVD I put in it last night with ease, even the ones I burned from my computer on DVD+R's. It also played the ones I burned from my VCR/DVD combo unit when I got rid of all my VCR tapes. There were no glitches and everything ran smoothly. So far very happy with this player, and the price is right.

Pretty good Blu-ray player, February 4, 2011
By J. Rendon "bjjjcr1681" (Houston, Tx)
This was purchased to replace a cheap Magnavox Blu-ray player that was given as a gift a couple of Christmases ago. I was banned from getting a PS3 (already own an Xbox 360) so I did quite a bit of research on CNet & amazon.com reviews to find the best fit for me. For players under $200 that were still high quality, I narrowed it down to the Sony BDP-S570 and the LG BD570. Neither seem to be perfect: user reviews note that the Sony has issues with the NetFlix and that the LG stopped playing Blu-rays discs after awhile. I figured that it's worse for a Blu-ray player to not play Blu-ray discs, so I went with the Sony.

Setup
I was amazed at how simple this unit was to set up wireless connection. I can't compare it to other Blu-ray players for this, since this is my first with wireless...but it was simpler than even my Xbox360 or laptop. I simply ran the setup and was prompted to hit a button on my router. It detected the router after than and set itself up. It didn't require the WEP key or any other kind of input.

Playback
The Blu-ray has gotten plenty of use from my 2yr old between Toy Story & Beauty and the Beast. We really like the fast start setting that dramatically cuts down on the wait time for an impatient toddler!
The NetFlix has been hit & miss. I've watched ~7 hour long episodes of Spartacus on different nights. The NetFlix picture is very good...it seems better than on my Xbox360 and maybe better than on my laptop. As far as speed: The first couple of nights, it kept stopping to buffer and I ended up watching on my laptop. After that, I watched several episodes with no issues. I tried one again last night and had problems again. I can't completely blame the Blu-ray player because my laptop & xbox 360 will also have buffer issues when I watch NetFlix, depending on the available bandwidth. The difference is that NetFlix doesn't seem to adjust to a lower resolution to compensate for lower network speeds on the Sony like it would on my laptop.

An excellent blu ray player, February 3, 2011
By K. Colon
I bought this for my husband for Christmas and it turns out that I use it more than he does! My primary use is watching Netflix, Hulu, and watching DVDs/Blu-Rays.

My favorite feature is that the unit remembers where you left off while watching a DVD in case it shuts off while you are away. I also really like how quickly it starts up - it just takes 2 or 3 seconds.

Great network BlueRay player!, February 3, 2011
By Mark in Ohio
I bought the 3D version for future use, as I do not have a 3D-capable TV, but the price difference was not much at all. So, I haven't used the Blu-Ray disk or 3D features yet, but the network features are great. I had been streaming Netflix to my TV through an old laptop and my wireless home network - with moderate success and poor resolution. With the same exact wireless home network and service, I get high quality Netflix downstreaming with this unit - just love it! Adding Pandora was pretty easy too!

Not as impressed as I thought I would be, February 3, 2011
By grandmamamama
For over a year I have checked out reviews for a multitude of Blu-Ray players. I bought this one because it was highly recommended through a Best Buy employee, and it had extremely high ratings on Amazon. Unfortunately I am not that impressed with this unit.

The idea of being able to watch YouTube, Netflix, Crackle, Fearnet, and Amazon On Demand was a great idea. But unfortunately this player does not have the speed of downloads that my home computer has -- which is odd considering both are on wireless systems. In the end, I prefer to watch these type of shows on my computer, rather than on my Blu-Ray player.

Reliability may be another problem in the future. Unlike my older DVD players this unit hangs occasionally when you fast forward a show. This is quite annoying because when the player returns, it starts the disc up from the beginning. Another thing I dislike about this model is it does not keep a memory point in the disc (like my older DVD Player) so if I stop a show to watch another DVD, it will start again from the original position it was in.

Finally the clarity issue. I always heard that Blu Ray was much clearer than DVD. But unfortunately I do not see it. But then again I had a hard time seeing the difference between VHS and DVD (other than home recordings). In the end if you are wanting to buy a Blu Ray player before they quit making DVD players, then this one may be for you. But if you are willing to wait, I am sure they will make something much better than this Blu Ray player in the future. IN fact considering there are NOT that many impressive Blu Ray titles available yet (and many have the same quality as DVD), I believe I would wait before spending the money on another Blu Ray Player.

LG 50PK550 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

LG 50PK550 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

Customer Reviews

Great TV for the price, IR problems, February 4, 2011
By chofmann88
This is an excellent tv, definitely the best for this size at this price level. The picture quality is amazing when it is set up properly, which can be a little difficult due to the number of options. This plasma has many more options than most TVs for changing color levels, which allows you to get that perfect picture, but it is difficult to manage all of them. Truly, I would like to give this tv 4.5 stars because it does suffer from image retention problems. If you leave any static image on the screen for more than 3 seconds at a time, it will remain there for a few seconds when you change the channel. This isn't really a problem because as long as there is something on top of it, you won't even notice, but still an issue.

I would highly recommend this tv at the price (I got mine for about $850 after shipping/taxes, not from Amazon). Some people have complained about a buzzing noise, but I can't hear it unless my ear is up to the back of the tv... an unlikely scenario for most users.

The best value out there!, January 24, 2011
By Nick "k96nb01" (Michigan)
What an amazing TV this is, and what an amazing deal! I have had the TV for a week now, and have had the chance to watch several movies, including Blu-ray, DVD, and mkv from my blu-ray player, as well as hi-def TV from my cable hookup. I am blown away by how nice this TV is. The picture is huge, but the TV fits in the space much better than my old 32" tube TV. It looks great when it's off, too.

I rated the features a little lower, because this TV doesn't do much besides be a TV, which is why it is such a great deal. My blu-ray player already has all of the other stuff I would need, and seeing as a blu-ray player will be much less costly to upgrade later on, I don't see why you would want a TV with lots of included extra features.

The TV is plenty bright, even though it's a plasma, and TV watching during the day does not suffer from noticeable reflections.

What else can I say? This TV is amazing, and after more than a year of agonizing over which TV to buy, I am completely satisfied with this LG!

excellent, January 17, 2011
By Marty
Great TV at a great price. Love the picture quality. Very satisfied with the purchase. Bought it through Amazon.com. When it was delivered they come right in & set it up. Dont get no easier than that.

Another Mistake, January 16, 2011
By Joshua Jones (Auburn, CA)
This is now the second tv that I've bought.I'm not going to do a long drawn out review on this. Basicly the tv looks really good, but...Day 1 i was really happy. when i got home from work and turned it on, I could still see a faded image on the tv from a show I was watching earlier in the day. So if theres a still image on the tv for a while, even as little as ten mins, you can still see it when your on a black or dark screen. However, if i put on a movie for a few mins and go back to a black screen, it goes away. I believe if you watch something or play xbox for hours that has a still image, that its possible for the image to stay burnt in forever. I also saw a weird patten in a game i was playing that should not be there. it was like the tv could not process it. Im sending this tv back. buy a new led and spend the money its worth it.

LG Plasma - It don't get no better'n this, January 9, 2011
By Riverlander (Minnesota)
It would be difficult to write the review without devolving into nothing but superlatives: Fantastic!, Marvelous, Extremely Groovy!

But that's what this TV is. The picture (when customized) is As Good As It Gets. Bar none. I shopped for quite a while before ordering this TV, and it lived up to every expectation. The price I got it for was outstanding. The shipping was spot on. The set-up was easy.

I own a Panasonic 55" plasma, and I love it. I brought this new 50" LG up to my cabin, and it's given me another reason to never want to leave. I just watched the Wild Card football weekend, and I had a better view of the game than the people on the 50-yard line. Watching sports on this TV is reason alone to buy it.

Go out to Best Buy or Ultimate Electronics and compare this TV with any of the others. Then go to Amazon and buy it.

It is simply the best.

Wonderful value here, January 8, 2011
By Sean
This is an outstanding set for the price. Was pondering this or a 1080p Panasonic 42 inch plasma. It's important to note that it's thin frame and depth are not just aesthetic, it allowed this 50" monster to fit in an area I previously had a very, very old 37" LCD. It is also very light for a TV of it's size much to my delight. I know the weight is published but it seems lighter while lifting than you'd think. That combined with a 10 foot test at a store and not being able to differentiate the 1080p 42" from this by much sealed the decision. My very small gripes would be that it could use a 4th HDMI these days and the capacitive buttons on the front, while lovely, make groping for them in a darkened room to turn it on virtually impossible.

As of this review 6th Avenue still has the best price on this. They shipped faster than I thought possible and it arrived on the absolute first day of the delivery window. Very impressed.

LG 50PK550 Review, January 1, 2011
By BrandonWangler
When my LG 50pk550 arrived I was very satisfied. It looked so much bigger than the 46" we had in the living room. I put this one in my room, and hooked it up to my DVR and blu ray player. Right away, I noticed a small buzzing noise coming from the back of the TV; I then called LG and they sent a repair man from my city to come look at the tv. The TV repair man did not think it was a problem because after turning up the volume, the buzzing noise couldn't be heard. The buzzing noise was very small, I just wanted to make sure that it was not a problem. When all the HD channels were registered on my DVR, the picture quality was and is just complelely amazing. I watched Apollo 13 on Blu Ray and it was great. I have noticed some image retention though. This happends mostly on channels where there is a logo in the bottom of the screen. For example, when I watch the history channel, there is a dark yellow H(standing for History) and a dark red HD symbol. If that image stays on the tv for over 10 minutes or so, after changing the channel the image stays burnt in for a few minutes (but it never stays permanently burnt in, it always go's away after a couple minutes, so it isn't much of a problem) Overall, I am very satisfied with the picture quality, the sound quality, the classy look of the tv, the great customer service from LG and Amazon, and the whole Plasma/HD expierence. I would recommend this TV to anyone. My advice is just right away be careful of the image retention and just make sure that you don't leave any image on the screen for over 20 minutes when the TV is brand new. I'm not sure how long it takes for an image to be completely burnt in, but I wouldn't mess with it at all due to the ghosting I have expierenced from mine (which I said goes away in a couple minutes and is not a problem).

Stunning, but you must watch it in a dark room., December 29, 2010
By J. Zwergel (Travis AFB, CA)
Stunning. Reviewers at cnet and plasma tv buying guide love to split hairs over color shift and black levels and motion lag and "dancing blue pixels." They nit pick every tv to death and leave you scratching your head. They have to say something, right? I'm no expert, but I've never seen a television that more closely reproduced the image from a movie theater screen than this one. The reason I was attracted to the pk line is because they display 24 frames per second from a blu-ray disc, which means your television is not trying to translate a movie's number of frames per second into video format. It shows each frame of the movie 3 times in a row 24 times in a second (72hz). I think it makes a difference. I can imagine myself in a movie theater as I'm watching the screen. Make sure the blu-ray player you buy also puts out 24 frames per second. Maybe they all do, I don't know. My dad bought me an lg bd530, which doesn't have netflix but I have a Roku so it doesn't matter. You might want the bd 550 if you want netflix, or the bd 570 if you have to have a wireless one, i.e. no ethernet cable close to your theater set up.

I do not recommend this set to anyone who has light emitting from a source directly in front of the screen. It should be watched either at night or in a room with blackout shades. A little ambient light from the ceiling is okay. If you can find one, you might do just as well to purchase the pk250, which is the exact same screen but without a usb input and there maybe a few picture tweaks that are not available. I bought mine at Sears for $699.00. I'm amazed that there is a tv this good at this price. I felt a little guilty for a few days because I don't feel like we're the kind of people who can afford a tv like this, but I guess we can because there it is in my den.

I've tried some of the calibration settings online and I hate them. Maybe I haven't found the right one. Right now I'm using the cinema setting, with sharpness turned to 0 and the color temperature to w2. That's right, I said the sharpness is set to 0. I want my plasma to look like a movie screen, not a pc monitor. I watched Christmas Story in blu-ray yesterday and it was the first time I've ever seen an image on a television that truly looked like a cinema screen. Next time you watch a movie in a theater notice how the images are much softer than on a television. If you doubt me, try my settings yourself. Even Pixar looks crisp and vibrant with sharpness at 0.

Also, though I try to be environmentally conscious in general you have to turn off the energy saving features on this tv. There is no point to buying a set of this quality and then having the set constantly turning the brightness up and down. I believe the tv companies were pressured to include these features but if you want to save electricity you're better off watching less television.

Oh, and one final thing. I picked up a pair of rabbit ears at Ace Hardware for $7.50 and we now have ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS, all in 1080i HD. Don't let a salesman trick you into expensive antennas or hdmi cables. Digital is digital, the signal is the same no matter what it travels through.

I hope this review saves you time and hassle. I just condensed two months of research into 5 paragraphs. I'll happily answer any questions you may have left.

LG 50PK550 HDTV, December 27, 2010
By D. Jones "Jones" (Mobile, Ala)
Great picture. Beautiful color rendition. Good looking TV.
The screen is reflective when black images are shown, but it's not that bad.
As stated in earlier reviews, the speaker are pretty good. I really like the
option which boost the audio frequency of dialogue.

Excellent Picture and Sound, December 16, 2010
By Johann Cat "Grauer Kater"
I have had this set for two months and it still has considerable "wow!" factor. First, it was a steal. (A few years ago a set approaching this quality could been priced at 2500 bucks.) This TV has an excellent image, especially for movies and sports. High resolution black and white movies look especially sharp, "resonant" and film-like. The 550 affords lots of fine tuning depending on the program one has. An unusual degree of sharpness may be dialed in if one wants it. I'm not sure this is a criticism, but with certain settings, the facial make-up of performers in news casts and made-for-TV dramas (like "Dexter") is obvious, but the image may be adjusted to soften the "hey, I see their make up" factor. I know many viewers may not use the on-board speakers of big TVs, but the 550's on-board speakers are quite good. These speakers are NOT thin or boxy sounding--even rock music sounds nice, but they are great for dialogue. Read reviews of other TVs--speaker quality is often neglected in contemporary TVs (and I have beheld many junk speakers--I think Samsung sets' speakers are often weak). Also, this TV affords a visual difference between 720 and 1080 broadcasts--1080 is a visible, not a hypothetical, benefit. I watch a lot of up-converted-to-1080 DVDs (the DVD players do the up-convert) on this set, and they look great, so one doesn't have to have a new library of Blu Ray to get real benefits from the 550, if like me, one has scads of old movies on conventional DVDs. The 550 also has lots of inputs, and a useful and intuitive remote, and, as I say, lots of available color adjustments. I am a nut for color adjustments, and I'll note that this machine has layers of fine-tuning for tint adjustments that I haven't ventured into yet.

LG 42PJ350 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

LG 42PJ350 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

Customer Reviews

Great TV for the Money, February 3, 2011
By Michael Ryan (Lakewood, Colorado United States)
When searching for a 42" TV, I of course also looked at the Samsung 450 and Panasonic C2 equivalents. With Samsung, I got worried about about the "buzzing" problem that's been widely reported but felt they had the nicest picture, which was my most important criteria. But not at the risk of having to exchange the set or deal with an annoying noise. I can say that I listened to this TV in the store and definitely COULD hear a noise, whereas with other models I heard nothing. So that ruled out Samsung in a hurry. And with Panasonic...well, let's just say I used to love this company but now I try to avoid them. Out of a projector and 2 other TVs I currently own, all either had a problem or some type of issue, and I also have a sense that their picture is the worst. Anyway, that led to the LG. The set seems very well constructed and of good quality. It's also relatively thin and not too heavy, if that matters. The picture is great for a $500 TV, and since the Cable Company is only sending a 720 signal, it's all I need and the picture truly does move smoothly. I looked at more expensive 1080p sets, even the 120hz models, and saw a noticeable choppy picture movement. I have no problems or complaints thus far. In the end, I probably spent way too much time in making my decision for this purchase.

Great Picture, Great Value, Audio Issues with HDMI Cable, January 24, 2011
By MadCarpenter (Oregon, USA)
Recently purchased this LG 42PJ350 42" 720p Plasma TV online for under $[...] delivered.

We use it in our small (12' x 12') living room to mostly watch High Definition cable TV broadcasts, DVR recordings, and an occasional DVD movie. We watch a considerable amount of sports, and are not Blu-Ray collectors nor video gamers. Plasma technology seems to be becoming less popular with many consumers compared to LCD/LED, due in part to potential video burn-in, screen reflectivity, and higher energy consumption issues. We're mostly concerned with motion blur, good viewing at an angle, and excellent HD rendition of cable TV signals. Plasma's strong points are lack of motion blur, higher contrast, and deeper black levels. And unlike LCD, the picture looks great from anywhere in the room; not just directly in front of the screen. Since nearly all HDTV is still broadcast at 720p, the 720 vs 1080 debate was a non issue for us, as the difference in picture quality is nearly indiscernible at typical viewing distances, and didn't warrant the extra $200 for a similar 1080p unit. (We are watching this set from approximately eight feet away.)

We were initially interested in Samsung and Panasonic plasma units, but after reading of the dreaded Samsung 'Plasma Buzzing Noise' and the Panasonic faulty power supply's 'Seven Blinking Lights of Death' on several reviewer blogs, we focused instead on LG. We've not encountered either of these problems with our new LG, nor have we read many similar complaints about their plasma TV's. This TV meets our needs, and its price was best in class.

The LG 42PJ350's 720p Plasma HD picture is framed by a beautifully sleek, thin bezel, and is amazingly sharp and lifelike. Viewing Standard Def broadcasts on this TV is somewhat less amazing, but still a dramatic improvement over our previous 32" Toshiba CRT dinosaur. I strongly recommend using an HDMI cable if you are going to connect to a satellite/cable converter box. The upgrade in video quality over coaxial cable is remarkable. You'll be missing the absolute best picture this TV can show you without HDMI.

We did encounter one drawback to using an HDMI cable between this set and a cable box; the HDMI cable also carries digital audio, and alters the TV's and converter box's usual audio functions. This LG TV's closed caption function is then disabled, as well as the Motorola Comcast digital converter box's volume control (Comcast box's 'mute' still works, however.). This means you'll have to use the Comcast remote to change channels, and the LG remote for volume adjustment. Installing the old coax cable instead from the TV to the converter box allowed the volume/closed caption to function normally, but then the picture quality suffered. Why buy a High Def TV to view a subpar picture? Oh well, bye bye closed captioning. Perhaps a universal remote would make this situation more tolerable? I'd appreciate helpful comments from others who have encountered this problem, as the LG website offers nothing in the way of assistance. An online instant chat with one of their techs yielded an odd, somewhat defensive, less than helpful comment of "That's the way LG TV's are made." (Maybe I was really chatting with "Ask Jeeves", in his new gig ?)

Audio from the PJ350's speakers is acceptable for a medium/small room (they're loud enough, but have minimal bass, and seem to be aimed at the BACK of the set?), but I plan to add a soundbar and a small powered subwoofer to complete our inexpensive home theater. And the LG "Infinite Sound" stereo wide feature was also disabled while connected with an HDMI cable.

The included remote control is a bit awkward to use. The 'arrow' function buttons often need to be pressed more than once, due to their concave shape and slippery, hard plastic (not rubbery) feel. The rectangular stand is, like the TV frame, a glossy piano black. It feels sturdy, swivels left/right, and was relatively simple (four included screws) to attach to the TV.

I'd rate this TV higher than 4 stars on the merits of its beautiful picture and excellent value, yet don't feel it deserves 5 stars because of the closed captioning/audio glitch.

really is too good to be true, January 24, 2011
By belinda milford
i looked for weeks for the best deal out there and wow did i do good.... perfect on price, quick delivery, great product .... hope to get enought money together to purchase another before they run out.....

Excellent TV especially for value, January 23, 2011
By Blessen "Blessen" (New York)
Excellent TV for value. I chose this over the LG 42LD450. Everyone the guy said in the first review is spot on.

A simply fantastic TV, January 23, 2011
By NBPC77 (Mason, OH USA)
Admittedly, I like plasmas and won this in a raffle. I have to tell ya...this is a very impressive TV. I watch alot of sports and play XBOX360 and have nothing but good things to say about it. Took little (very little) tweaking to get the picture to where I liked it, but after that, it's been nothing less than stunning. I also have a 58" Panny Plasma in the family room and this holds its own. Looking at the prices and the quality of the pic, I'd pick up this bad boy over the Panny 42" Plasma 720p any day. And don't let the 720p vs 1080p bother you. Unless you're a videophile, it'll be hard to tell the difference at this size and typical sitting distance.

Do not buy, December 30, 2010
By gary
I will never by anything from Adorama Camera or Amazon ever again. There is a clearly written return policy of 14 days with both their name on the Amazon site and both have refused to take this piece of junk back.

I love my LG 42" Plasma, December 28, 2010
By Alex Tan "Alex Tan" (Lafayette, LA USA)
I think most people know that anything below 52", you can't tell the difference between a 720p and a 1080p resolution anyway unless you want to watch your TV with a magnifying glass.
I wanted a 42", and I don't need a 720p, and I wanted to have 2 or more HDMI input(which ruled out the all famous Walmart and Target popular Panasonic 42C) that's got 600Hz refresh rate. This LG has all of that and I got it for less than $500! It's even thinner and more elegant than the Panasonic.
As I set it up, my wife just couldn't believe how awesome it looks. I am not a big fan of glossy finishes around the frame, but since it's so thin, I have no problems with it. All the controls on the lower right of the TV are touch sensitive and they are responsive. I just thought that I'd like to be able to select my input devices with individual buttons on the remote control, but you need to hit 'INPUT' and then select the input device by using the directional pad and hit 'ENTER', which to me is a bit cumbersome.
Other than that, the picture quality is great, sound quality is adequate for such a TV, and the price is simply unbeatable! I could get a Vizio with this price too, but I think LG has a lot more to offer when it comes to quality and looks. Highly recommend it!

Great TV for the money, December 27, 2010
By M. J. Kukich
I am not an elctronics junkie, so all I can say is that the picture quality is far above my last purchase.

plasma looks like crap, December 8, 2010
By Monica Iluyomade
There isn't much to say. I assembled the TV, hooked up my PS3 via HDMI, turned it on and am greeted to a blurry picture of my XMB menu. I decide to pop in The Dark Knight Blu and again I am greeted to horrible blurry picture. I decide to try Uncharted 2 and yet again I get a crap picture. I decide to play around with the setting, but to no avail. No matter what I did the TV looked bad. I have a crappy 22 inch samsung LCD which has a brighter, crisper, clearer, all around nicer looking picture. Oh and there's a distinctly audible buzzing noise. I specifically bought this TV because there were problems with the audio buzzing on the Samsung plamas. I will never buy an LG tv again...

I mean, I payed 539 dollars for this TV and it looks like dog ****! Time for a return. Maybe plasmas just suck in general?

So far so good, December 3, 2010
By Fahd Ahmad "skinner456" (St. Louis, MO)
I am not a videophile but I will say that my other TV is a 50" Pioneer Kuro plasma TV purchased right as Pioneer exited the TV business, so I have very high standards when it comes to picture quality.

I purchased this TV sight unseen; I was looking for a low-end plasma to put into a rec area in our basement. For the $500 I paid there is no way to guarantee a good picture quality unless you go plasma. LCD's in this size and price range just can't match up. I saw this deal running on Amazon the week of Black Friday, read overall positive reviews, and took the plunge (after shopping around extensively and reading a great deal about other sets of course).

I will update this review later as I get more time with the set, but here are my initial impressions.

Packing: Easy to take off the wrapping and get out of the box. Not much extraneous packing material. They do not give you a full printed manual, instead packaging a CD with the manual and giving an included manual that covers the basics needed to get things running.

Build: Easy to mount on the stand, swivels without difficulty. It doesn't have brackets to attach it to my entertainment center, something to keep in mind if you have young children around you worry may push/pull on it. The TV itself is very thin and relatively elegant and overall very light; the design doesn't stand out in an of itself, but I don't view that as a negative. With TV on and lights off you don't notice the bezel at all (the inside of the bezel on my Pioneer actually makes a slight reflection because the screen is inset a little bit). It is a fingerprint magnet, something to keep in mind if you are going to use put your hands on it to swivel it often. I will say that having the stand swivel is WONDERFUL. Being able to turn it even just that 20 degrees to easily attach/remove cables, etc makes everything much easier.

Picture: The only HD content I've had a chance to use so far is Fallout 3 on my Xbox 360, but I can say it compared favorably to my Pioneer. My wife saw the picture and thought it was as good as the Pioneer (though she was only looking at the Xbox Dashboard, not the game). I currently only have an SD setup from Dish to run to this TV but the results were surprisingly much better than I expected. I have been spoiled by watching exclusively HD TV broadcasts on my Pioneer for over a year now so I expected that watching SD content on a lower level TV would be painful, but it was adequate; ultimately of course you really want HD for everything or there wasn't much reason to get a nice TV. I have a lot of control over the lighting where this TV is located so I am not as concerned about reflections/glare as others, but I did test it with every light in the room turned on (so fairly bright) and didn't have any issues viewing the picture. If you're going to have a light (or window with light coming through) shining directly on the TV it may be a problem, but otherwise it is fine and w/o much glare.

Audio: Nothing exciting here. The speakers have plenty of volume. Everyone who writes reviews always seems to think everyone should have a fancy stereo system for their HDTV, but that's not always feasible/practical. I don't have a stereo system for either of these TV's and rely on the speakers built in to the TV. The LG speakers are not as good as the huge speaker bar that came with my Pioneer, but at the very least the mid-range sounds are clear and audible, though it doesn't make much in the way of bass. The speaker bar on my Pioneer is nice enough that I don't feel a need for extra speakers, but I do think the LG would benefit from some true stereo speakers from a powered receiver and if I can do so in the future I will.

Remote: It's a bit long to easily do everything one handed but the ergonomics seem otherwise fine.

Panasonic VIERA TC-P50GT25 50-inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV, Black

Panasonic VIERA TC-P50GT25 50-inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV, Black

Customer Reviews
Not Just 3D!! BUT 2D Is out of this WOURLD !!, February 7, 2011
By Frank Finateri "fmfin" (Sault / Canada)
I had my Panasonic 3D tv for about a mouth now and I LOVE this TV Not just for the 3D But the 2D is Awesome The Blk. whites are Deep and Brilliant and stick right out The THX setting is great for very low light room and give you a true cinema look!
The only thing that i was disappointed was that the cable company don't offer 3d moves yet ! Also the video rentals did not have any 3D movies YET!! BUT the PS3 did have firmware update for 3d viewing. The 3D gaming part in 3D is OUT OF THIS WORLD! I am using the ps3 for 3D gaming , 3D movie viewing and i am also using it for my Netflix. I did purchase a Panasonic DY-WL10 Wireless LAN Adapter and should be in next week ! I will write a review about the Viercast on this TV
Later Fin

Panasonic Can't Be Beat!, February 6, 2011
By coolmike
First off I will say this TV came on time. Shipped with no problems. Easy to assemble and setup. The picture quality, what can I say is incredible and that's not a strong enough word. I first watched Madagascar 2 with my two sons, they couldn't take their eyes off the screen and neither could I. I was amazed by the clarity and sharpness of the picture not to mention the color. In other reviews before I got this TV I though it was just hype, now I see I'm wrong, the colors really do pop. A day or two later I received my other blue ray movies(Enter The Dragon, Terminator 2, Point Of No Return, and Two Evil Eyes)and let me say they all looked better than when I seen them before especially Enter The Dragon and Point Of No Return. Vivid and T.H.X. mode are my favorite settings they look better than the movies. This TV makes me not want to even go anymore. The played super street fighter 4 on my 360 and let me tell you the colors looked amazing and the action was fast paced with no blur at 1080p. The menu was set up nice, easy to understand.

Overall I would say if you want a big screen with great picture, great color, movie theater like experience and a reasonable price, this is the one to have hands down. Panasonic Wins.

Hands down better than LCD technology, February 5, 2011
By xeno
I went on quite a search for a new TV. I tried several LG LCD/LED television's with no success. All of the them had motion blur and picture lag (stuttering in the picture), and a wide degree of picture quality that ranged from ok to bad. So, I finally decided to try this plasma. First of all, the price of this TV is great, and you should buy one before they run out and the new Panasonic models come out. Second, the picture quality is fantastic. The LCD's can't touch it. The thing that impresses me most is the detail that I can pick out in the picture now that I could not see on the LCD's. Gaming is also great, with no lag and really fine detail in 1080p.

The nicest thing about the new plasma's is the technology that helps prevent image retention and burn-in. The pixel orbiting that comes with the TV can be set and specific intervals to prevent image retention, and unless you plan on turning up the contrast and brightness to 100 (which would result in a terrible picture), burn-in would be difficult. Still, you should go easy on the TV for the first 100 hours just to be on the safe side (break-in period). Basically, keep the contrast and brightness down, and static images from staying on the screen for too long during that time.

Finally, the shipping on this was excellent. After a tense moment of watching one guy try to haul this out of the truck himself (his partner ran over to help before I could), they opened up the TV, let me inspect it, then set the whole thing up, put it where I wanted, and made sure it worked properly before leaving. Thank you CEVA!

No TV is perfect, and I am sure there are things that people will gripe about and what not, but this TV really has a lot of pluses, and is worth the price. Happy viewing!

Plasma has come a long way, February 4, 2011
By David
I cant review the 3D performance of this set since I haven't bought the 3D glasses or Blue-ray. But the picture quality of this TV is terrific. Screen is brighter than the pioneer rear projection it replaces but the color and screen is much more realistic then any lcd i've seen and no motion blur. Can't wait until superbowl sunday. I use the THX setting which does allow you to adjust parameters on it. Sound quality isn't as good as the monster pioneer I had but isn't bad by flat panel standards and this tv doesn't put out that much heat.

Panasonic VIERA TC-P50GT25 50-inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV, February 4, 2011
By Phoebe (California)
I have had this TV for a few days now and all I can say is wow! I am so glad I purchased it. I have not used the 3D yet so I don't know how it is. But the picture and the color is beautiful. I am not a technical person, but all the settings were easy to follow and set up. I originally had a problem getting sound from my HD channels, but it was not the TV it was my service provider (ATT Uverse) and we worked through it and fixed the problem. I am just so happy with my purchase. I worked with Panasonic first they help me determin that the problem was with the service and not the TV.

The greatest TV, February 3, 2011
By luriert
This tv is great, probably one of the best I have seen. I spent months researching tv's and this really is the best bang for your buck. Inky blacks and vibrant colors and the 3d is incredible. Plasma is definitely the way to go if you are looking for the best picture quality. My only complaint and this is trivial is the size, I have seen the LED tv's that are about the width of a piece of paper and this tv is significantly bigger. Other than that this tv is a must have if you are looking for a great 3d tv for a great price.

Under-rated at best buy, February 1, 2011
By tryme4
i have been looking at tvs for more than a year. going back and forth between lcd and plasma. So happy i went with this tv. dont be fooled when going to stores as they dont put the picture on the right settings or even bother to set it up. when i first went to the stores the plasma looked dim and not to strong. but i read the professional reviews and i knew it couldnt be setup right. i took a chance and so glad i did. i have a jvc LCOS 61 in my basement nice tv in it own right but the colors and clarity of this tv are outstanding. my kids love it and my daughter got to see her first 3d movie and i never saw her sit so still. amazon had a great deal with free shipping and no tax. if you buy this you will not be disappointed

Great TV, January 29, 2011
By Jim
Ordered this for my dad to watch the Superbowl. Had some trouble on out part trying to get the surround sound working over the HDMI cable. (I did order the ones that supported ethernet) finally found the ARC enable. Great set ordered it after seeing one. Great picture!!

First Plasma - and 3D !, January 28, 2011
By Turbo Tony (Cleveland, Ohio USA)
Like the previous 2 or 3 reviewers I agree that this 50" plasma TV has the nicest picture I have ever seen so far - and I am a HUGE Samsung LCD fan (have a LN52A650 52" Sammy LCD I purchased 2+ years ago and it has a remarkable picture as well - albeit with some glare issues from the adjacent windows).
I moved "temporarily" out of town for my consulting work and need a TV for my apartment.
Since the advent of 3D I wanted to make this purchase as future proof as possible - and everything I read about 3D points to the 600 Hz Plasmas being the really smart way to go (research it yourself and you'll most likely come to the same conclusion).
Well I just got this TV last night. Straight out of the box on a cable HD channel (high-end HDMI 1.4 connection) the picture was superb. No tweaking yet. I plan to calibrate it this weekend.
I watched some cable provided 3D free content. It was cool - but not spectacular. Saw some "ghosting" (cross-talk?) of the 3D images - but at times they jumped out of the screen. I'm using the cheaper Panasonic 3D glasses (without the rechargeable batteries) and they seem to work ok except for some light peeking in from the open sides (will try at night w/o lights on). Perhaps the "ghosting" was due to the haunted house movie I was watching (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Calibrating the TV didn't make a huge impact on the PQ other than some skintones seemed better (used the THX setting with some tweaks - see settings on the Cnet review).
I just got a Sony s570 3D blu ray player and a 3D movie in the mail too. I will try those this weekend and report back on my 3D experience.
So, even if I never use 3D (ya right - I will cuz i'm a tech weenie) I love the 2D picture. Oh, and I tried-out the 2D to 3D conversion - WOW - not bad for the HD Discovery channel and other 2D HD outer space/nature content that lends itself to depth/3D). Quite impressive. Glad I got the TV that has THIS feature.
Delivery - I had to help the guy bring it in. TV carton was too big to navigate down a flight of stairs by himself so we carried it. Not what I expected but no biggie. This review is about the TV anyway.
I'll try out the internet capabilities as well, but I'm thinking I will most likely use the Sony wireless internet blu ray player because it's - well - WIRELESS!
Stay tuned (pun intended).
I will report back after some more experimenting this weekend. Hope this preliminary review helps some of you that are still on the "decision fence". Good luck with your purchase.
Update:
After a whole weekend of viewing - and watching Piranha in 3D - I was entertained but not terribly impressed with the 3D presentation (although there were moments I laughed and jumped at some 3D parts. Overall there didn't seem to be enough dazzling 3D effects - perhaps the movie's fault or the TV?
The movie is hilarious - and some close-ups of the Piranhas had good 3D effects in the underwater scenes (lot's of depth lent itself to 3D). I just wasn't "WOWed" like I thought I would be. I have a feeling any 3D TV would have provided the same result - but I don't know that for a fact.
The PQ is outstanding though.
PS...the Sony Blu Ray player is a really good piece of equipment. Watched a Netflix movie streamed wirelessly. Only crashed once during the movie (internet connection caused it to restart the movie). Not bad compared to the reviews on this player. Wireless Internet set-up was a piece of cake. Haven't tried the TV wired Internet capability as of yet and might not since the Blu Ray player handles it just fine. Setting-up Netflix was a pain though. Needed a code provided by Sony (it pops-up on the screen) then another code from Netflix to make the connection - all this while using my laptop to get the data from the Sony website (create an account, etc so Sony can steal my information - (that's a topic for another site).

Excellent TV - 2D or 3D - Stunning Picture, January 27, 2011
By Robo21 (Southern California)
This is our second Panasonic plasma. The first is still running strong after 4 years of outstanding performance. Before buying the GT25 we decided to try a top of the line Samsung LED LCD that was an utter disappointment, more on that later.

First I will begin by saying that before I understood 3D technology I had no desire whatsoever to buy a 3D set. It was only after researching the merits of 3D circuitry when viewing in 2D mode that I pulled the trigger on this wonderful TV. Panasonic's 3D circuitry is probably the closest to cinematic 3D of any set on the market. In order to qualify for "True HD 3D" the set must generate 2, 1080P images back to back. Without getting technical, this takes powerful 600Hz circuitry. However, I bought the TV for its superior 2D performance.

At the time I bought the set there was an excellent package deal on the glasses and a Panasonic 3D Bluray player so I ended up with "free" 3D capability. I will say that 3D is fun but not my cup of tea, however my wife loves it. I enjoy it also but don't care much for the required glasses.

A fringe benefit with the new Panasonic Plasma TV's is their low power consumption. In 2D this set consumes less than 150W which is less than half what my older plasma used. Plasmas of this type now easily compete with LCD and LED LCD on power consumption.

On to the TV itself. The GT25 is very handsome with the "piano black" bezel and base, even when turned off. Unpacking, setup and programming were simple and fast. My cable box, upconverting DVD player, and Bluray player all connect to a Yamaha RX-V567 receiver (purchased at the same time - also highly recommended) which connects to the TV via a high speed 3D certified HDMI cable. Over the air TV audio gets routed to the audio receiver via an Toslink optical cable. We are using Bose Lifestyle 5.1 speakers which are now amazing with the Yamaha and the Panasonic.

The GT25 is THX certified which is definitely an asset. We watch our movies in a customized THX setting which gives the films a very cinema-like patina. This is much nicer than what we have seen with the top of the line Samsung LED LCD TV which we returned after a couple days of unhappy viewing, playing with controls, and finally giving up. Plasma is vastly superior in my opinion.

Bluray performance on this set is astonishing - be prepared for goose bumps. The Infinite Black engine is awesome. After watching a couple of "space" movies it becomes apparent that they really mean "infinite!" The blacks are stunningly deep. Colors are very natural and the contrast is superb. Fine tuning the picture is easy on this set.

Overall this TV is a great value and will not disappoint. One can spend more on a higher-end TV but the picture quality will be only marginally superior. There are diminishing returns as you increase the price. This set seems like it hits a sweet spot for price/performance.

Samsung PN50C490 50-Inch 720p Plasma 3D HDTV

Samsung PN50C490 50-Inch 720p Plasma 3D HDTV

Customer Reviews
As good as it gets! Period! Buy this tv, February 4, 2011
By Lauras Husband
Greetings, please dont make the mistake of dismissing this tv as a simple 720p plasma as I did.
I recently purchased a 46 inch Sony Bravia 120hz LED LCD I thought it was great. I was in the market for a larger LED 55 to 60 inch for the living room. I went to best buy and reviewed side by side with a 55 samsung led and a sony 60 led. I adjusted the settings on all three and tuned them down equally, the sales guy didnt like this but I did it anyway.

This tv more than holds its own. I have a 42 inch Panasonic plasma that was highly rated, this tv blows it out of the water. I thought that the 3d aspect would hurt the 2d performance but it does not. This panel is reflective, but it is glass. This tv is clearly a much higher quality than than the other plain 720 or 1080 plasmas on the market, this tv out performed the plain Panasonic plasma that it sat by.

600 hz vs. 120 or 240. You can see the difference,go see for yourself.

I feel sorry for all the people who will buy a 1080 lcd this week for a little more money. This tv is special and I am glad I found it, I am not even into 3d.

To the negative reviews below, I dont see your issues at all on this tv.

One funny thing, I set my sony PS3 output to 720p and if I hit the info on the remote, it is saying 1920x1080 24 frames per second? That cant be right can it?

I love the look and stand of the TV, it looks like a $3000 set. Their is a silight twinge of purple on the bottom, which is really not noticeable. Prince would love it!

This tv is special for the price, dont pass it up!

Update: Ok the media play feature supports ripped blurays dvds and music on an external western digital 2tb drive!!!
This is huge for me, as I dont have to buy a wdtv or apple tv player!! Frickin awesome!!

If you question buying this TV please read :), January 29, 2011
By Dwayne Morris
The TV is great, it gives you a great 2D picture and an awesome 3D picture. You can convert 3D to 2D and 2D to 3D. Although it says it is 720p,while I play games or when I looked at avatar on blu-ray it displayed in 1080p. I find it weird and thought it was an error but it isn't it actually displays in 1080p. When in goes to 3D the colors become very vivid(just like if you have an regular tv in dynamic) and then it switches to 720p but everything look crisp and very sharp. I was amazed by it due to the fact a plasma was sharper than my LED tv and both have the same contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1. I was playing super star dust in 3D and I notice after I turned the game off I seen a ghost image of the sign still there and became very scared that it was screen burn in. But no need to fear Samsung pixel shift is here!!! The pixels shift every minute or you can set it to what ever you want it set to and every 10min the screen refresh. There is a mode that you can use when your tv is not in use to scan the screen and erase the images..OOOOOOO...The tv is great,have plenty of inputs and the sound is better than most recent tv's. 5 out of 5 from me :D

I HATED PLASMA NOW IM IN LOVE, January 19, 2011
By JAHman
I was really skeptical about buying a 3dtv that is this cheap,but it proved me wrong big time.I went to HHGREGG pick this tv up for $600.00 bucks. But first I had the guy display a 3d movie on it and it worked flawlessly. Took it home ,setup is very easy.I had my ps3 so I didn't need to buy 3d blu ray player .Remember,to get the best quality video signal you need a HDMI cable dont ( don't buy in store ,i got a rocketfish hdmi cable right here at amazon for dirt cheap and it works great).
I have to admit that I had a little problem actually playing anything in 3d with ps3 .I thought for a sec that I would had to return. Anyone that buys this tv and wants to hook it up to the ps3 ,make sure you reset the display setting .When you do that, you see that the ps3 recognises the tv as 3d. Games look really neat in 3d ,I've tried Black Ops,Wipe Out HD, Super Star Dust HD, and a few videos from the ps3 store and I have to say this is the deal with 3d .I just rented A Christmas Carol 3D and it blew me away.
To get the effect for 3d you have to adjust it a little bit .Go into the menu then 3d setting and there is a slider for the 3d .it is usual set to half way which gives you a great sense of depth but slide towards the right and every pops out of the screen. 2D is just as impressive ,the colors are rich ,black is actually black not greyish.Don't be con out by people saying," Oh but its not 1080p." I was saying the same thing to myself and now really cant tell the difference. Movies looks stunning ,Video Games looks amazing and 3D is a great plus.Audio is ok just like any other TV.I use a surround sound system so I don't really care about the TV speakers.
WARNING: As with all plasmas never crank up your settings for the first 100hr of viewing ,because it might be prone to Image retention or Burn in( I did research on this ,you should too). but there are protections on the tv if this were to happen, such as a sliding bar of black and white that wipes the screen of any IR.I personally didn't see any on mines.since the plasma was built last year, it is less likely to have burn ins or IR.
Overall, This is the tv to get if you don't want to pay a ridiculous price for 3D. Its flawless just as a regular HDTV and an awesome experience in world of 3D.

STUNNING PICTURE, January 9, 2011
By Mary C. Wiley "speedlady" (Edina MN)
We've only had this tv for 3 days and we're already in love! Watched an old movie on PBS last night and the picture was just stunning! Haven't tried 3D yet at all. We were going to buy the 450 but the 490 showed up for $50 more so we opted for the 3D model to keep our options open for the future. Will need to upgrade to a blue-ray player and get the glasses before we can do that.
Wish they had offered a package deal that included the glasses, but long term we may be better off buying them separately as new models of the glasses are coming out all the time and prices should be dropping.
We're thrilled with the price (caveat, bought online but not from Amazon and paid $150 less than Amazon's price) and everything else about this tv, with the possible exception of the metallic stand. Would prefer a stand that was not as noticeable.

Nice TV but the 3D experience is very bad, January 2, 2011
By M. Hamed (usa)
The resolution is great when connected to a source of 720P. The 3D is not that good I do not know why..the 3Dexperience I had on other 3D TVs in the store were much better. The Tv works great when connected to any game console, PC, or Bluray. Also HD channels look great

Not just a great 3DTV, a great HDTV in general, December 29, 2010
By Zhiyong Sun "Forry" (Canada)
Everything the other reviewers praised about this tv is true to me, I will come back and update my review with more content but thought my experiment with the Media Play function of the tv would be useful for potential buyers of the 2010 boxing day season in Canada (yes in Canada, mine was purchased boxing day from best buy canada).

This tv provides several ways to watch HD content other than blu ray disk (like a 720 or 1080 video from a hd camcorder, or a blu ray rip, etc.):

1. HTPC connected via the VGA port or HDMI port. I tried the VGA port connected to a PC. The tv display native 1360x768 resolution and the image is clear, sharp, and rich in color. So it's like a PC monitor but lot bigger. HD content played on it looks great. With an HTPC you can play like everything, but the drawback is you have to have two pieces of hardware setup and running and sometime things get complicated and not really suitable for the wife (no offense). Other similar options include the various HD media players on the market such as the boxee box. But again two pieces of hardware.

Update: I compared the video quality of the same files (some randome HD content of the HDTV capture, HD camera clips, as well as HD movie rips) between PC-VGA-TV playback and the TV's build in Media Play playback (as detailed below), the TV's media play always result in better quality, clearer, sharper, and more colorful image, better contrast, etc. Apparently when using PC to play the video, it often depends on the software used for the playback, which could be fine tuned but require time and effort; on the other hand the TV's own playback function seems to be optimized already for any formats that it can recognize. Especially for 1080i file (I have tried several, including the 1080i file recorded on my Sanyo FH1 HD camcorder, the TV gives very smooth play back without the interlacing defect, while when played on my computer using VLC, the interlacing effect is very annoying to say the least.

2. The Media Play function. I was skeptical about it when purchasing it and thought it's a gimmick (as I have seen in many similar product as a bonus feature). I understand there are a million kinds of video formats and lots of products can only handle very few.

The Media Play function of the samsung PN50C490 in reality is much better than I expected. The following is what I have tested. You can refer to the manual for a complete lis of support format but lot of times you really have to try yourself. I tried them on both a 8GB USB drive and a 16GB SD card via USB card reader, both works the same. Update: tried a externally powered usb sata drive with two partitions (both NTFS), the TV recognized both partition as two devices, and allow you to switch between the two. The HD content on each partition played flawlessly. On the manual it's written: USB-HDD is not supported. It's quite confusing but hey, fact is fact. I am definitely going to get a large external hdd just for the TV.

===============

mp4, avi, mkv: yes. Even subtitles of various sort is supported.

Mac's m4v and m4a format, not supported. These are from the itunes. The Media Play can't recognize and display the files. If I change the m4v into the mp4 extension, the file can be played with video but no audio. m4a music file is absolutely no go.

Casio digital camera (P505) avi video format: yes.

Sanyo FH1 HD camcorder mp4 file (720p and 1080 60i): yes. but 1080 60p file can't be played (unfortunately). I own this camcorder.

Panasonic GH1's mts file (AVCHD) and mov file (motion jpeg): they can't be recognized in the media play. However, if you change the mts file into .ts file, and the mov file into .mp4 file, both type can be played flawlessly.

Panasonic GH2's mts and mov file: although the codec in these have been revised in the GH2 camera, the above still hold true. Just change the file extension and done. Maybe because the Gh2's 1080 is still 60i so can be supported, as the Sanyo's 1080 60p can't be played.

A remark on GH1/GH2's video on the samsung: I don't own the panasonic DC but intend to get the new GH2 that's why I am interested in the video compatibility issue. I downloaded the camera produced original files from some review websites. mts files are 1080 or 720; mov files are 720. I had thought with the 720p resolution of this TV set it can't benefit from an full HD source (the 1080 files) but I was so wrong!

All the 1080 clips I played in the Media Play are just clearer and sharper then the 720 clips. I hope potential panasonic gh2 buyers will benefit from my test, as this is one piece of hot new camera on the market right now.

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More about Media Play, Music funtion

Now more about the media play's function, not on movie but on music. This is just sounds like a great feature but it's implementation is a complete fail. Yes like movie you can browse to the folder and start to play an mp3 but wait, not like watching a movie where you need the display on (apparently), can you afford to leave a 50' plasma TV on just to listen to music? Of course not. So the logical thinking of me is, go to Eco option of the tv and turn the display off. But nooo, as soon as you hit Menu on the remote, the music play stopped, matter of fact the whole Media Play thing exited. So, the music player there is just useless. Plus, it only plays mp3 anyway and the sound quality wasn't great. So, please forget about it, just so you know.

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More on BluRay playback

I just got an PS3 as my 3d bluray player. Works great for the samsung. The Bluray playing is gorgeous no doubt about that. However, the "it only does everything" PS3 can't do half of the video format the Samsung's build in media play function does. And the PS3 can't even support the NTFS format! This again shows how great this little Media Play bonus feature is on the Samsung (just for the video playing of course).
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More on Anynet+

Had no idea what this feature was until I saw the tv source discovered the PS3 automatically, and I realized that I can use the tv remote to power on/off the PS3 and control its operation (for this to work you have to connect the ps3 to the tv using hdmi)! So basically the direction button and enter button works to control the bluray/dvd playback on the ps3. Then if you need the extra control options (like to back to top menu, change audio video, subtitle setting, etc.) you hit the Tools button on the Samsung remote, then select the Playstation 3 info. This will bring up the pop up menu of the ps3 (just as if you press the arrow button on your ps3 game controller). Pretty neat. It's a lot of button press but pretty intuitive. Not as convenient as a real PS3 bluray remote, but that's one less remote to operate in the dark when watching a movie. So, my praise on this one too.

Pleasantly Surprised, December 24, 2010
By Slo-Hand
This is a really nice T.V. for the money. I had to wait over 3 weeks for delivery but Amazon discounted the package an additional $47.00 and offered an additional $30.00 gift certificate because the original delivery date of 12/20/2010 was missed. The T.V. was delivered 1/7/2011 by Home Delivery and they must have done a good job because the television arrived undamaged. The stand does not come attached to the set which was a complaint lodged against a previous model plasma so no problems there. Assembly was easy and with a little help from my wife so was the initial physical set up.
I read through the manual and started thinking 'Man this might be complicated', but it wasn't. The remote is large and well laid out and the onscreen menus lend themselves to easy navigation. In a few words the picture is easily adjustable and incredible. Definitely the easiest to adjust of any television I've ever owned . I can personalize the look of each video game I play with ease. When I played the 3d bluray 'Legend of the Guardian ..the owls of Ga'hoole' I could not believe what I was seeing on my television. There are simply no words to describe how much of an improvement watching quality 3d blurays is over watching regular blurays. I am so glad I bought this.

Over the air high definition broadcasts look outstanding on this television . Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 ps3 looks incredible on this display once set to taste. Tiger Woods pga tour 2011 even looks pretty good on this T.V. The display settings you made for television broadcasts do not carry over to hdmi 1, 2 or 3. There are also 2 component inputs, a pc input and a usb input. I have little to no use for component or vga (computer monitor) inputs so I can't rate them. The usb input is for charging rechargable battery glasses, uploading photos, videos, firmware updates etc. none of which I have tried to do. I use the CR2025 30 hour battery operated 3d glasses and am glad I got those over the rechargable kind because of their liteness. I tried the 2d to 3d function on Tiger Woods pga tour 2010 ps3 and liked it. It added a definite 3d effect. 3d blurays will not play with a ps3 on this television. The ps3 does not recognize this television as a 3d enabled device for 3d blurays so I ordered a Samsung 3d bluray player and that works beautifully. Regular blurays do work with a ps3 and this television as do 3d video games like 'Avatar The Game' and 'High Velocity Bowling'(2 games I have played in 3d with a ps3 and this television). You can apply A 2d-3d effect on this televsion for a muted 3d experience with the glasses. I did that with Jim Carrey's a Christmas Carol and Legend of The Guardians (The Owls of Gahoole) and it adds a very toned down sort of 3d effect and no competition for the actual 3d blurayS. Also the 2d -3d effect seems to produce some eyestrain which is not an issue with 3d blurays for me. I'm glad the 2d-3d effect is there however and do use it to add variety to my 2d viewing.

I'm happy with this purchase for now. Best Buy has a similar deal to the one I got on Amazon but that doesn't include delivery and you'll need a truck or Vann to move this set properly so I'm still glad I bought it at Amazon even with the 17 day delay. The picture for high def programming, video games, blurays and 3d blurays is great and the screen is large. The sound is excellent even with just 2 10 watt speakers. There are 5 different sound settings and an equalizer. I haven't noticed any buzzing with this display. Disadvantages would be the inherent fragility of plasma screens which means they really have to be treated with kid gloves while transporting(box in the upright position); having to be vigilant of image retention in your viewing habits ..(watch out for any fixed images that could get burned into the set even with the default pixel rotation feature in place). Screen reflections might be an issue depending on room lighting but using the 3d glasses cuts reflections so that could be a solution for that. Wall mounting this set would pose a challenge because all but two of the connections plug straight into the back at a 90 degree angle as opposed to the bottom, sides or back parallel. Regular digital broadcasts don't look that great on this set. That's a very small issue for me as I'm generally not too interested in those signals. I can't tell the difference between this picture and 1080p sets I've seen for high def programming, blurays, 3d blurays and quality video games. I would have given the set 5 stars except it has not withstood the test of time. The warranty for home use is 1 year parts and labor. For commercial use, 3 months parts and labor.

I bought a $119.00 plexi-glass screen protector for this set. The touch sensitive controls on the side were not impeded but there is about an inch of overhang which may partially impede the 3d emitter at the bottom. I have noticed that the 3d glasses angle to the 3d emitter matters in keeping the 3d in sync. The magic number seems to be 60 degrees for me with the screen protector in place which means any angle at or above that figure will cause the glasses to lose sync. It's not a huge deal and only becomes an issue when I'm standing and relatively close to the set(3 feet or less). A taller person might have more of an issue though depending on how high the T.V. is placed and whether or not he's standing,sitting or lieing down. Samsung might want to consider using something like a web cam for their 3d emitter in future sets to avoid this issue altogether. It's not going to be a huge deal for most people and there will always be the option of raising the set higher if it is a problem. This is not the only potential issue with the glasses but fortunately I have not had to tape the sensor on the glasses like some other folks have done.

I have not been initially happier with a television purchase than I am right now and that's primarily due to the way quality 3d blurays look on this set !

this has a little bit higher resolution than 720p, December 21, 2010
By Better one
for the retard that said it is not 720p has to be the biggist idiot because 1024x720p is 720p and this t.v. has a resolution of 1366x768p witch is slightly higher resolution than regular 720p with is still 720p and will have a slightly better picture when watching a blueray compared to a regular 720p tv but for h.d.t.v. cable or satellite viewing this tv will look just as good as a 1080p tv would because H.D. cable and most satellite services are broadcasted in 720p or 1080i THE bottom line I do not own the t.v. my aunt and my grandma as well as my brother do own the tv and it is fantastic for everthing but standerd def. t.v. and that is normal because it is a 50 inch tv it is supper thin and 3d is soo damm alsome buy this thing the worst you have to do is send it back you wont be dissapointed especialy when its under 900 bucks im abought to get one after xmas because i spent all my money on gifts. :(

Best value 3D TV, December 6, 2010
By Mohammad Masud Hasan
First of all, seeing is believing. Me and my wife both visit Sears and HHGREGG stores multiple times to compare plasma vs. LCD/LED and 720p vs. 1080p. We find that plasma is better than LCD/LED in terms of color and other features for picture quality. The lower brightness of plasma is not an issue since there is not much light in our TV room. (In fact, Samsung PN50C490 plasma has "Dynamic" picture mode to view at higher brightness, but we mostly use less bright "Movie" picture mode so that it is less stressful to eyes at night.) We both cannot differentiate much between 720p and 1080p plasma TVs, even watching as close as suggested for 3D viewing (e.g., about 7 feet for 50 inch). Moreover, because of plasma's superior color contrast, saturation, accuracy, and frequency, both me and my wife feel better viewing experience in a 720p plasma than in a 1080p (yes!) LCD/LED when we compare those in store display side by side. Therefore, we decide not to spend another $400+ just to get 1080p or LCD/LED. Those who are still confused, please read CNET TV buying guide. "According to the Imaging Science Foundation, a group that consults for home-theater manufacturers and trains professional video calibrators, the most important aspect of picture quality is contrast ratio the second most important is color saturation, and the third is color accuracy. Resolution comes in fourth, despite being the most-cited HDTV specification." Thus, resolution is the feature that we can compromise to save money.

Secondly, we think about energy-efficiency. From power specifications available online, we calculate how much energy would be saved if we buy LCD/LED rather than this plasma. We find the purchase price to be paid for LCD/LED is much higher than the energy-cost we would save, even for 10 years! (If you consider 10 years inflation of the extra money you have to pay today for LCD/LED, the difference is even more.) As the 3D technology evolves, I am sure future 3D TVs would be much better than current 3D TVs and I am probably not going to watch the same TV for many years (even if I buy the best 3D TV available now). Therefore, I am saving money buying this plasma, plus getting amazing picture quality. By this time, let 3D LED TVs get mature and cheaper. Remember, currently advertised LED TVs in the market are not actual LED-panel TVs, they are just LCD-panel TVs with LED back-lighting/edge-lighting/local-dimming. Plasma is already matured, we think. For example, the burn-in problem is much reduced in latest plasma TVs. Additionally, Samsung PN50C490 has anti-burn pixel shifting feature, which we set always on.

Thirdly, even though PN50C490 does not have internet connectivity, it quickly becomes a non-issue given that I must buy a 3D Bluray player to watch 3D content. Most 3D players (in fact, all Samsung 3D Bluray players) come with internet connectivity! Hence, we do not go for higher-end 3D TV versions (e.g., PN50C7000 or PN50C8000 or other brands) to get internet connectivity within TV. Let our player do the job.

Fourthly, we have a kid who has a tendency to throw things! Although we do not expect TVs to endure flying objects, it is good that Plasma screen is tougher than LCD/LED screen (according to a CNET forum). Hence, plasma is a rational choice for us.

Last but not least, this Samsung model has 2D to 3D conversion and picture-in-picture (PIP) capabilities.

Recently, we have actually watched 3D Christmas Carol and other 2D Bluray movies using a Samsung BDC-5900 player. With our limited experience, we must say Samsung PN50C490 delivers us the best 3D and 2D television amusement we ever had. The TV and accessories together cost below a grand! By the by, we have bought this TV for $807 shipped, no tax, including two glasses in an online deal during the Thanksgiving week of Nov, 2010. We also have bought a BDC-5900 player for $119 and an HDMI cable for $1.

We love it, November 27, 2010
By Paul Kilduff (Baltimore MD USA)
After checking the reviews here, we bought this TV (sorry, we bought it at hhgregg, where we paid $970 with two free pairs of glasses).

We've had it for two weeks, and it's as good as it can be. I kind of expected a better experience with 2D to 3D (I found that it's not worth the trouble of wearing the glasses and looking at a slightly dimmer image for the 3D effect) but the 2D to 3D effect does work. There isn't that much content on cable right now, and we haven't bought the 3D Blue Ray player yet, but it's nice to know that when 3D TV starts to be really happening, we'll have the 3D TV already.

We've watched DVDs on a DVD player. I bought a new DVD player with an HDMI jack hoping the picture would be better, but actually the picture was *slightly* better using the old component cables than using the HDMI cables, so I took the new DVD player back. We've also watched HD video from Comcast, after getting an HD package from them and having them install the HD decoder/DVR, and it looks like a million dollars. I know someone with a Sony LED 46" TV, and the picture is NOT as good as this one's picture. The other day I went to someone's house who has a CRT TV that I used to think was state of the art. Well now it looks pathetic!

The bad thing about hhgregg is that they work in teams to sell you crap you don't need beyond the TV. We bargained (well, THEY bargained with US) to get the 5 year replacement warranty for $150, which I don't think is too bad. But they sold us a $120 HDMI cable, which, when I got home and did a little checking, seemed idiotic. I returned the cable (which had been discounted to $80) the next day. I got a couple of 3' HDMI cables for like $.80 cents plus shipping from Amazon. Also got a circuit protector that I don't think was worth the money we paid (part of a package, all of which was discounted to make room for the extra warranty) but I don't know if this "cleans up the signal" claim is complete hogwash or not.

Anyway, the picture looks really good.

The remote control is easy to switch back and forth among inputs (VCR, DVD, cable decoder) and I think the sound is great.

So we love it, and our visiting relative calls it "the super TV".

Samsung PN50C8000 50-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV (Black)

Samsung PN50C8000 50-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV (Black)

Customer Reviews
Super Sammy!!!, February 2, 2011
By E-man "E-man" (Chicago, IL USA)
Super Sammy....nuff said!!! Wow what a TV. I was back an forth between this and the Panny TC-P50VT25, but I got a really good deal on the Sammy with Bluray player and all 4 Shrek movies. Let me tell you I am not disappointed. In, I am very very very happy I got this TV.

Looks - beautiful silver finish with clear edges for bezel.

Picture Quality - wow, wow, wow!!! I got the Spears and Munsil calibration Bluray disk and now the Sammy shows why it is one of the best plasma TV ever made thus far. There are settings for every detail. I don't think there is a real need for a
Pro setting menu for professional as you can virtually control everything.
The clarity, color, blacks and contrast are excellent!!! You will be amazed at
the picture.

Sound - very good just for TV speakers indeed although I plan to get a surround setup soon.

3D - wow it is very good. The Shrek moves look awesome in 3D. I have not had any crosstalk that some mention. I was able to watch the Sony golf tournament in 3D and it was awesome!!! Lakers in 3D was incredible too. I can't wait for The Masters now.

I really like the remote as well. Sturdy, lighting and good feel in my hand.

I have my settings below. Let me know if they help you or if you have some others. Again this was the done with the Spears and Munsil Bluray (reviewed this as well).

Mode - CAL-DAY
Cell Light - 15-17 (12 at Cal-NIGHT )depending on how much light get in the
room, I use 16 when sunny and 17 when sunny with snow, 15 on cloudy
day
Brightness - 58 (56 for CAL-NIGHT)
Contrast - 88
Color - 50
Sharpness - 40 (I used 40 although calibration directed me to 0 actually)
Tint - 50/50

Advanced
Black Tone - Darker
Dynamic Contrast - Medium
Gamma - 0
Color Space - Native
Edge Enhancement - ON

Picture Options
Color Tone - Cool
Size - 16:9
HDMI Black Level - Normal
other settings are AUTO or OFF

My CAL-NIGHT settings are the same except noted above for cell light and brightness

BAM SUPER SAMMY!!!

Look no further, great TV, January 30, 2011
By G
I bought this TV in November (its now the end of January) and love it.
This is my first plasma (I have a smaller LCD in another room) and it is great.

When I purchased this it was entirely through Amazon and it came with a free bluray and 3D starter kit and free shipping and free return shipping - the free return shipping was the real deal maker for me purchasing this over the net. When the TV arrived it was brought into the house (still boxed) by the Amazon delivery company. After I opened and set it up I noticed that there was a thin black horizontal line all the way across the screen a couple inches from the top of the set (not the 16/9 line, but a defect line). Since it was delivered Thanksgiving week I didn't feel like dealing with it so I called Amazon the day after Thanksgiving. I expected a long wait followed by an unpleasant conversation that I figured would end with me telling them to come get the TV and I'd just return it with the free return shipping option.

After I explained the line defect to the employee, and told her that it was this way from the moment I opened it, I just didn't feel like dealing with it until after Thanksgiving, she said, and here's where I expected the fight to start, "You have two options: 1st I can send the delivery company to come pick it up and issue you a full refund or, 2nd, I can send the delivery company to come pick it up and replace it with another one at the same time. Which would you prefer?" Amazon made the exchange easy and completely painless! I asked for the exchange and the next Tuesday the swap took place - and remember my call was placed on Black Friday. Thank you Amazon!

The TV itself is great. I haven't done any of the tweaking for optimum picture noted in prior reviews, but I love the picture quality. The user interfaces (both the remote and the on-screen) are easy to understand and use. One earlier reviewer noted that there were no controls on the TV itself so the remote always had to be used. There are actually "watermark" type (i.e. very faintly outlined) controls on the lower right of the TV on the clear plastic edge that goes around the set. While not really functional for routine use, it does make it easy to turn the set off after the kids leave it on and I don't feel like looking for the remote just to turn it off.

Some other reviewers noted a buzzing/hum when the set was turned on. I haven't experienced it. Neither of the two sets I hooked up had it. BUT, I took someone else's advise and bought a power "cleaner" to connect all my new equipment through. While the reviews on the power cleaners range from "power cleaners are absolutely essential" to "this is complete BS" I figured that I needed a good surge protector anyway and for a couple of bucks more, I would give it a try. Does it really work, I don't know. Do I have the buzz/hum that several people complain about, nope.

The sound on the set is standard TV set quality sound. In other words it isn't anything like what it is run through an entertainment center. But then again, it isn't run through an entertainment center. My family watches all sorts of movies and TV shows with the TV's native sound system and no one has complained once. It is perfectly fine. I think some people expect a theater sound experience, that's not the case. I bought this TV for the theater visual experience, which it delivers!

Overall, the TV is amazing. The 2D picture is beautiful. The 3D picture is also beautiful. The TV's ability to convert native 2D to 3D is neat, but not something I've taken advantage of other than to try out for the novelty of it.

Assuming the set you receive does not have the buzz/hum some users complain about, you will love this set!

Best TV for those who think the design is as important as the quality, January 24, 2011
By L. W. Lu "William" (Los Angeles, CA)
The TV that I bought is PS50C7700 which is the European model for PN50C8000. I originally was looking into the LCD version of this which is the UE40C7700 or 9000s. However, after discussing it with a few TV salesmen and researching on a few TV review sites, I've decided to get he PN50C8000/PL50c7700. I recently moved to the Netherlands, but I had been eyeing the Samsung 3D TVs for a while back when I was still living in Southern California. I have to say I am very satisfy with the purchase.

I have read a few reviewers that prefer Panasonic plasma VT25 over the Samsung LCD 8000 series based of the performance of the 3D movies. Plasma works better with the 3D technology than the LCDs... if you tilt your head wearing the 3D glasses using the LCD TVs, the picture will get dimmer. But it doesn't do that on plasma. Even thought most reviewers are slightly more favorable toward Panasonic, unanimously the reviewers commented that Samsung TVs are far more superior in design while the picture quality of Panasonic TV may be slightly more superior.

So before you buy this TV, make sure you know what a plasma TV entails: break-in period (which is around 100-200 hours I think) where you need to keep the TV in half of the brightness to prevent burn in images and during this period it is very likely the screen will retain images when you watch a lot of static images. Nevertheless, the technology for plasma tvs these days should prevent your plasma tvs from getting any burn-in images. So, don't get the burn-in images and retention images confused. Retention images will go away. Burn in doesn't... and it shouldn't be any problem anymore with the plasma technology these days. On the plus side, this TV (and plasma tvs in general) produces far more superior life-like images and is a lot faster than LCDs.

As far as the buzzing noise goes, it goes with almost any TV, the brighter the screen is the more likely you hear a buzzing noise. I generally watch my TV in a dim room or with very little light, so Samsung PN50C8000 is perfect for me. My TV doesn't make a noticeable buzz noise. My PS3 makes a louder noise than my TV.

The 3D works amazing on this TV. It also has the capability to turn 2D movies and make it into 3D (although it isn't nearly as good as an actual 3D movie). When I bought this TV, there was a special deal. I ended up getting 3 free pairs of 3D glasses and 4 3D movies. How To Train Your Dragon looks awesome in 3D.

The USB plugs work great. I've been using USB flash drives to watch tons of my downloaded movies and tv shows. It is also very easy to update the firmware on this TV because it's connected to the internet. You can do it wirelessly with an additional wireless USB plug, but I just hooked mine up with an ethernet cable.

Occasionally I can see a bit of image retention on the screen, but it goes away. And it's getting less and less visible as I have this TV longer. I'm very happy with my purchase. It may be the best thing I bought myself in 2010. Blu-ray movies look fantastic on this screen. I highly recommend watching 'The Fall' blu-ray on this TV.

PROS:
chic design
ultra slim, so it looks great on the wall or on top of a tv stand
clear life-like images
great 3D picture quality (better than the LCD counter part)
the 3D glasses are much better than the ones from other brands like panasonic and sony
Excellent black-level performance
accurate color overall
properly handles 1080p/24 sources
excellent bright-room image for a plasma
numerous picture controls and tweaks
great streaming and widget content via well-integrated Apps platform
way more affordable than other 3D TVs

Cons:
break in period
image retention (not a big issue for me)
1080p/24 mode causes a bit loss in black level performance
may not be as vibrant as LED tvs

not completely satisfied, January 23, 2011
By Stephen Graham (Odessa, Texas)
I bought this tv as a package deal. TV, Blue ray player and a 3D starter kit. The TV has an amazing picture quality, and I like the 2d to 3d, but can't tell you anything about the the actual 3d movies because I haven't gotten my Blue ray player yet. I ordered on Jan 9th and now Amazon is telling me it could be the end of February before I receive it. You can buy them anywhere and Amazon can't seem to come up with one....What's the deal. I have never had problems before on my orders. Also trying to connect to the Internet via Samsung Wireless lan adapter, my computer tells me I need to download Samsung drivers. You would think the drivers would come with the TV.

SUPERB IMAGE QUALITY AND BEAUTIFUL DESIGN!, January 22, 2011
By C. Lai "Mandarin" (Los Angeles CA)
Purchase date: Dec.31 2010. Full array of tweaks, apps, widgets, and features: If you are the type of person who like to "play with numerous controls" in order to customize your television experience the way that "you want", this TV will equal paradise to you!... Most users won't use all the features, but it's nice to have them. For example, who will really use 3 sets of " on/off " timers, on top of a sleep timer?... or have a message on your tv screen when you receive a text message on your cel phone? Plasma displays typically offer beyond any doubt the best, most pleasing and realistic picture, from all angles: this TV is no exception! The color accuracy, deep blacks, and image definition are so amazing on this Samsung TV that your favorite pet may want to jump into the tv! Movies on this set are just breathtaking!.

I like its contemporary design, and the TV is a lot thinner than its direct competitor, Panasonic's flagship model. The PN50C8000 remote control is a continuation of the unit's design and is not your regular "Fisher Price" big rubber button remote; so I disagree with CNET's opinion by a mile. I also disagree with CNET's review and ranking when comparing Samsung's flagship model to the Panasonic's. The only advantage noted by CNET was the black level scientifically measured on the Panasonic VT25, which won the contest by a hair over Samsung. However, Panasonic's black level decreases over time according to... Panasonic. Furthermore, Panasonic's tasteless "Ford Escort" inspired design is at the antipodes of the contemporary lines of Samsung's flagship model. Panasonic's app interface looks like a game of Pong straight form the 1980's rather than the nice well organized app screen found on the Samsung, which by the way also offers the greatest number of apps of any tv. The PN50C8000 is not shy about its black... it offers about 5 different levels of black that you can set to your liking... (yes, it does extremely deep blacks) I also have to mention that my model was manufactured at the end of 2010, so it has a darker plasma screen than the same model on display at Best Buy. That is probably why Amazon adds "(BLACK)" at the end of the model's number. This tv also came with the latest software version, so I did not even need to update it! This is also probably why some previous bugs are no longer present...

Plasma TV's consume slightly more energy than same size LED's. but on average, and with normal settings, we're talking about 75-100W more than LED's, so around 200W total, depending on settings and the image being displayed. However, that will certainly not intimidate anyone who wants to add a 800-1000W home theater sound system to complement his/her purchase, or use a 1100W microwave to make popcorn... Give me a break!

As far as the buzzing goes, I only heard a low buzzing sound for a very short time. After turning the TV slightly on its stand, it then stopped and I never heard it again. There is however a note in the user manual that a buzz may be heard at over 6500ft of altitude (if you live at that elevation). In any case, one should definitely use a power surge with line conditioner to control possible interference, especially with any TV in this size and price range! Samsung also includes a "ferrite" that one can attach / clip to the power cord to control/avoid interference. I did not personally experience any image retention so far, under normal, responsible but "not over-paranoid" viewing conditions. If you do watch CNN for hours however, I suspect that it would be wiser to purchase a LED TV's instead. Samsung warns users about static images being displayed for long periods on this type of screen (not covered by the warranty) causing what is called "burned in" images. But, guess what, there is also 2 separate functions on this TV in order to prevent this from happening; a swipe that can be run for a few minutes to "erase" image retention, and a pixel rotating function which is "on" by default.

Hope this has been helpful. It's all a matter of common sense, and taste of course. The user manual is a free download from Samsung's website if one wants to go over all the specs before buying. At about $1600 on Amazon (MSRP: $2,299) including a blu-ray player, 3D movies, and 2 pairs of 3D glasses, it's a real deal! You should get it!

A more technical review, January 20, 2011
By Francisco Diaz "Frank1911" (Mexico city)
I just bought this TV. I had Sony Bravia KDL 46EX700, the picture was amazing but only when sitting infront of it, so i left it go. Now, comparing this two tvs, despite the fact that they are different technologies, i mean LED and Plasma i most say:

Picture quality for samsung seems to be poor next to Sony Bravia (slight lack of texture, darker look, poor or excesive picture edge handling ).
It handles 96Hz refresh top, it can be good since there is a notticeable improvement in faster scenes, but it is a bit annoying since it is not as smooth as expected.
It tooks a lot of screen adjustements to get the most of it. so you have to be familiar with technical tv stuff.
3D quality seems to me a little bit weak next to some other tvs from samsung and lg, but it is good at the end of the day.
Acces to some RC functions are quite complicated such as PIP, power saving settings, etc.
Picture quality limited to specific input devices (my ps3 doesn't looks as good as my samsung BDplayer does, and there no way to match the quality of the 2 devices.
No quality loss due to angle of vision.
Realistic colors.
Marks on screen wich are inherent to plasma.
High energy consumption.

Breathtaking picture...but an increasing buzzing noise, January 17, 2011
By CML
I logged 8 hours of watching HD football the day after I got this. I had adjusted the picture settings to match the online expert recommendations, and come game time I was staring at pure reality. I've never seen picture quality of this caliber (...but I haven't seen a Kuro).

Around the 7th hour, I noticed the buzzing noise. I had been on the lookout because other reviews discussed this potential problem. When I began watching the games I thought I was in the clear because I couldn't hear a buzz for hours even when I muted the TV. But then it began, and it continued to get louder and louder until I went to bed. It was easily heard over the TV at a regular volume. My drunken, couch-sleeping friend woke up for a water and without being prompted about the buzz said, "Is that your TV?"

On the second day of TV watching, it only took 2 hours for the buzzing to return, but I didn't have the TV running long enough to hear how loud it would climb to again.

On the third day, I contacted Amazon for a return. I want this make/model -- the picture quality is head and shoulders above the Vizio XVT553SV 55" I recently returned to Amazon due to off-angle viewing haziness, and it sounded better, too. This is the best TV I've ever seen, and I'll keep trying until I get one without a buzz.

This thing is awesome, January 11, 2011
By GoCougs
I would recommend this over the led anyday. The picture is a lot better. 2d to 3d capabilities make me like it more than the more expensive panasonic vt series.

Awesome TV, January 10, 2011
By A Customer
This is an awesome TV and I would highly recomend you consider this tv when decideing on a flat panel tv. For the money you can't get a LED/LCD with the same performance and picture quality as this Sansung PN50C8000.

Fantastic picture. No buyer's remorse., December 30, 2010
By Daniel Cohen (New York, NY)
This is my very first Amazon review. I feel that strongly about this purchase that I wanted to share my experience.

Some background. This is an upgrade from a Sony 34" CRT HDTV. I had that set for 6 years and it had a terrific picture. I've always maintained that a good hi-def tube set still looks better than any current Flat-Panel display. I still feel that way, but it was time to upgrade to a bigger (50+), more modern set. My living room (NYC apartment) is 10 feet wide, so the viewing distance is about 9 to 9.5 feet (taking into account the couch and the fact that I'm not wall mounting the set).

I had already excluded LCD due to price (at 50" and above), screen refresh rate, viewing angle, and a more "film-like" quality that I believe plasmas tend to have. I was fixated on Panasonic, as they are known for their plasma sets with excellent black levels, and I have several friends and family members who own a Panasonic plasma. I've always been impressed by the picture quality and a minimal "digital" look to their images.

My first purchase was a 58" plasma, the Panasonic TC-P58S2, and I got a great deal on it (1099 + tax). After setting it up, the first problem I noticed (and the ultimate reason for returning it) was that at a viewing distance of 9 feet, it was too easy to see grain and picture noise in the display, particularly with HD cable signals. Blu-ray movies looked fantastic at any distance, but overall, I felt this set was too large. Amazon guidelines indicate that 9 feet is acceptable for a 58" set, but I feel that if you are going to get a set this large at this distance, it really needs to be top of the line (and the TC-P58S2 is a highly rated set) or you are going to notice noise in the picture. From a distance of 12 feet or more, that noise blurs away perfectly (as it should) and you see a excellent picture.

I returned the set and decided that if I was going to go smaller to 50", I should get a set that is rated at the top of its class. I am happy to report that the PN50C8000 is simply the best television I've ever seen at this size. I really can't undersell the quality of the picture on this set. Everything I watch looks fantastic. HD Cable broadcasts look terrific with no discernible grain. Blu-Rays looks stunning. 3D Blu-Rays look as good as I've seen on any 3D digitally-projected theater screen. The best way I can describe the picture quality is that it's truly film-like in appearance. The colors look fantastic and properly calibrated right out of the box (mostly using "Movie" mode for all viewing). The level of detail I can see on blu-ray movies still stuns me; It's almost unreal how sharp it is. This is what buying a set of this calibur is all about.

A quick note about the intangibles. The aesthetic of the set is far superior to any Panasonic. It's very thin (1.4") and it looks beautiful. The bezel is classy, stylish, and properly subtle as to not draw your eye's attention while watching the screen. The swivel base is definitely appreciated as well. I haven't used any calibration tools yet, but I'm glad this set has a plethora of tweaking options. I've turned off ALL the image processing features, which from everything I've read online, make the picture worse. Make sure to turn off the "dejudder" option in particular. I'm amazed Samsung keeps this on as a default out of the box. The 3D upscaling isn't really worth using, but true 3D blu-rays are a joy to watch.

I'm sure some of you are concerned about buzz. All plasmas buzz, but I'm happy to report that the amount of buzz on this set is no more than I've heard with any other, and it's virtually inaudible at 9 feet away with normal sound levels. I was definitely worried about a buzz issue, as it's the kind of thing that would bother me if I could hear it even a little bit. In this case, the buzz is low enough that I never even think about it.

The other possible concern is image retention. There is some image retention you will see after leaving a paused image on the screen for more then 15 minutes, but it quickly goes away after a few minutes of watching a moving picture.

I am thrilled with this purchase. It's a beautiful set in all ways with a truly stunning, film-quality, super crisp picture. I have not had a single moment of regret about buying this model.

That's about it. Feel free to ask a question in the comments section.